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Introduction to African American Filmmaking

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Introduction to African American Filmmaking Introduction to African American Filmmaking Dr. Ruth Doughty Liverpool John Moores University HISTORICAL CONTEXT • American Slavery 1680-1865 (Middle Passage) • Paternalism: duty to civilise (Christianity) • Science: African American inferiority • North/South divide Civil War (economy, expansion and morality) • 1863: Emancipation proclamation • 1865: Civil War won by North - 13th Amendment passed abolishing slavery • Sharecropping replaces Slavery • Segregation – limited interaction • Economic, political and social inequality BLACK CULTURE • White fascination with Blackness • ‘Exotic Other’ biological difference • 1819 Saartje (Sarah Baartman) the ‘Hottentot Venus’ • Exhibited as freak show in Britain • “heavy-arsed heathen” (Hall, p.265) • Sold to Frenchman – scientific paintings • Objectified & fetishized MINSTRELSY • Blackface, burnt cork • Originally white performers • Thomas Dartmouth ‘Daddy’ Rice imitated Cuff (disabled??) • ‘Jump Jim Crow’ famous 19th C minstrel song • Bakhtin ‘Carnivalesque’ inversion of class rules • Derogatory representation • Blacks in Blackface • Clip – Stormy Weather (Andrew L. Stone, 1943) BERT WILLIAMS • Famous minstrel actor • Pretended to be thick and lazy • Adopted a Southern drawl • Off stage had a Caribbean accent • White audience laughed at Bert Williams for being stupid • Black audience laughed at whites thinking Williams was stupid • Agency: Williams playing a stereotype for white audience EARLY FILMIC REPRESENTATION • Sidelined not main protagonist; films cut differently dependent on audience - Clip • Hollywood recognised potential market • All black cast musicals (white director, writer) • Hallelujah (King Vidor, 1929) • The Green Pastures (Connelly & Keighley,1936) • Cabin in the Sky (Vincente Minnelli, 1943) • Stormy Weather (Andrew Stone,1943) • Carmen Jones (Otto Preminger, 1954) • Idyllic mythic Plantation or backstage musical – stereotyped characters • Actors: Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson, Paul Robeson, Lena Horne STEREOTYPING • Essentializing: express the essence • Two-dimensional, caricatures • Iconography (Zoot suits, bling, afros) and Fetishization (body parts) • Historically light and dark skinned African Americans treated differently – field or house • Hwd gave heroic role to light skinned, villain roles to dark skinned ‘All were character types used for the same effect: to entertain by stressing Negro inferiority. Fun was poked at the American Negro by presenting him as either a nitwit or a childlike lackey.’ Donald Bogle. (2002). Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks. (4th ed.). New York, Continuum. p.4 THE MAMMY THE JEZABEL THE TRAGIC MULATTO Pinky (Elia Kazan, 1949) THE TOM THE COON THE TRICKSTER THE BUCK/BRUTE Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffiths, 1915) RACE FILMS • Birth of a Nation (D.W.Griffiths, 1915) enraged Black society • 1918 Black production studios • Lincoln Motion Pictures Company • Micheaux Film and Book Company • Norman Studios (White owned) • Race Films critically overlooked aesthetically bad, poor quality & poor acting • Whites control distribution and exhibition – difficult to critique social hierarchy OSCAR MICHEAUX • Most prolific filmmaker in early 20thC. Made 44 films • Worked independently, raised own funds • Started as farmer then novelist • Victim of harsh censorship, messages lost • Emergence of sound & Great Depression, bankrupt • Post-Depression found white investors in Harlem critics say style changed • Critiqued the church Body and Soul (1925) • Miscegenation: God’s Step Children (1938) • Miscegenation illegal – finally repealed in … November 2000, Alabama WITHIN OUR GATES (1920) • Microcosm of Black society – professionals & underclass both celebratory and damning • Controversy: sensationalist publicity over lynching, led to film being banned - CLIP • Micheaux inverts rape scene (Birth of a Nation) white male lusting after Black (mulatto) female • Revealing Sylvia is Gridlestone’s daughter – symbolical – Sexual encounters incestuous Slave owners in a parental position • Flawed and worthy characters. W.E.B DuBois Double Consciousness DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS “It is this peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, ... One ever feels his twoness,-an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder...In his merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost… He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.” W.E.B. DuBois Souls of Black Folk DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS • Dual identity – love hate relationship • American assimilation v. Black African identity • Race Movies: retain Hollywood storytelling yet actively work against stereotypes • Imitate Hollywood aesthetics yet lack of rules (no formal training) • Lack of funds to correct mistakes • Black ideology yet white censorship CIVIL RIGHTS – KEY MOMENTS • 1896: Plessy v. Fergusson (separate but equal) • 1955: Rosa Parks (Montgomery Bus Boycott) • 1957: Little Rock, Arkansas - Brown v Board of Ed. • 1960: Greensboro, N.C. - Woolworth’s Lunch Counter • 1961: Freedom Riders • 1963: Martin Luther King arrested • 1963: March on Washington • 1963: Alabama Church Bombing • 1964: Civil Right Act passed • 1965: Voting Rights Act passed Clip – Eyes on the Prize NEW NEGRO FILMS • 1942: NAACP meet with Hollywood • Period of integration 1949-1968 • Cinema open to new ideas – TV threat • Fight against fascism WWII – America can no longer take moral high ground • Blacks in roles of authority – CLIP Classified X • Non-threatening, non-sexual, middle-class, conservative, dignified and loyal INTEGRATIONIST HERO SIDNEY POITIER • Grew up in Bahamas • Janitor American Negro Theatre CLIP - No Way Out (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950) • The Defiant Ones (1958) – Start of Buddy Movie • Acceptable icon for assimilation • Stoic, determined but not violent or militant • 1964: Poitier’s Oscar for Lilies of the Field (Ralph Nelson, 1963) • Porgy and Bess (Otto Preminger, 1959) • Confront racial taboos but actresses still treated badly • Black Am have no control over production • More militant attitude starts to emerge BLACK POWER • Move from Martin Luther King non-violent approach to Malcolm X more militant • New racial consciousness • Malcolm X Assassinated October 1965 • Watts riots: 6 days, police brutality, 34 dead, $50-100 million damage • Black Panther Party for Self-Defense – distinguish from non- violent organizations • Iconic black berets, leather jackets, guns and black power salute 1968: Olympics Black Power Salute BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT • Ideology of assimilation replaced with more separatist ideas (Marcus Garvey) • Forging a unique black identity, cultural Nationalism • Recognition of African Roots – Afrocentricism (dashiki and Afro hair - pride & celebration) • Strip artistic creativity of white cultural forms • Music: James Brown ‘Say it loud I’m black and I’m proud’ • Sport: Muhammed Ali – in your face black power • Film: Melvin Van Peebles makes first Black Power film MELVIN VAN PEEBLES • Watermelon Man (1970): rejects 3 picture deal • CLIP - Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (Melvin Van Peebles, 1971) • Rework buck stereotype – love machine • Pornographic elements avoid union interference • 50% crew were minorities – Latin Am & Af Am • Bill Cosby gives funds to finish film • Black Panthers endorse film • Top grossing independent hit of 1971: turning point • CLIP – Baadasssss (Mario Van Peebles, 2005) BLAXPLOITATION • Hollywood suppresses political message add caricatures, white directors replace black • Anti-heroes pimps, drug dealers, criminals • Poor Role Models- Glorifying Pimps, Hustlers • Denounced by NAACP, CORE, Jesse Jackson • Pressure groups coin term Blaxploitation not Hollywood • Deconstructing and reconstructing stereotypes • Emergence of the sapphire – feisty female, Pam Grier Coffy, Foxy Brown, Cleopatra Jones 1980S CONSERVATIVISM • Affirmative Action: policy to ensure people not discriminated against (race, gender, sexuality, disability, religion) • Reverse racism – quotas must be met • Reagan – cuts welfare programmes • High unemployment, 1989 - 21% blacks out of work, increase in crime leading to rise in single parent families • Affluent black middle-class: Buppie • Black Entertainment explosion: • Music: Michael Jackson, Hip Hop, Break Dancing • Black Entertainment Television (BET) channel: Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Cosby • CLIP – The Cosby Show Episode 1 • Middle-class professional, ground-breaking TV • Films: Black characters in isolation from community • An Officer & a Gentleman (Taylor Hackford, 1982) • Jumpin’ Jack Flash (Penny Marshall, 1986) • Beverley Hills Cop (Martin Brest, 1984) • Buddy movie: • Comedic side kick (Coon) • Noble advisor (Uncle Tom) • Interracial relationships still taboo – Stallone replaced Eddie Murphy NEW BLACK AESTHETIC • UCLA (University of California, Los Angles) 60 & 70s, Charles Burnett & Julie Dash • Black cultural producers of the late 80s-90s. Spike Lee, John Singleton, Robert Townsend • Independent, low-budget, black crew, art aesthetic • Guerilla Tactics: Community support • Critical success
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